8.26.2013

I think it's in Silverton's La Brea book and plenty other places I've read about baking fully proofed formed loaves of dough right out of the fridge. My fear was always the moisture built up inside while cooking would behave so differently than the exterior, a dense middle might result.

Time for some small risk taking. We're in production mode: both off to work early, kid to school, and the city school lunch belched forth from whatever disgusting organization that sleeps with Columbus Public Schools is turning out disgraceful options. So, we need good food prepared fast for lunches.

Little fresh breads, whether for sandwiches or dipping in nutella are versatile for Frankie (and for our dinners as well, the little round is a cool mini soup bowl). So here's a quickie prelude to a series of posts on rapidly cooked breads with lots of flavor from slow fridge fermentation.

My first attempt made use of a typical lean dough, 65% hydration with a 2.5% oil enrichment, it's a versatile dough for us. This dough happened to have aged in the fridge 3-4 days. Last night I took it out, rounded 4 x 50 gram lumps and let them proof in the fridge overnight. Next morning, I tossed them my Baparoma steam pan in a cold oven set for 425 F, 25 minutes covered and 10 uncovered and boom! Hot rolls. A couple tossed in to the lunch bag loosely swaddled in a paper towel so they could cool properly and I'm pretty sure they might be eaten first.

Some action shots: click to enlarge images:

dough balls rounded on the cover of a plastic container, the bowl gets affixed to the lid and dough can rise during the night with no contact, but still prevented from drying out in the fridge.

The dough balls this morning. A little flour dusted on them to prevent sticking to the pan.

Note the dimpled surface of the bread. Although I use a full yeast charge on this dough, several days in the fridge result in a dough with some sourdough features. The several day aging with full yeast is an interesting hybrid method between a straight, rapidly rising dough and a slow starter-derived dough.

Upcoming posts on this: scale up, making about 16 of these at a time and using a regular half sheet aluminum pan for baking. With more minis in at once, the overall humidity should be high enough to not have to use the Baparoma.